Thursday, 14 April 2016

Leading
international classification society Bureau Veritas has issued Approval in
Principle for the WindFloat Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (FOWT) foundation.
WindFloat is designed by Principle Power and consists of a ballasted floating platform which supports a
multi-megawatt wind turbine generator.

Matthieu de Tugny, Senior Vice-President and Head of
Offshore, Bureau Veritas, says, “FOWT technology will help exploit
clean renewable offshore wind power. It offers substantial advantages over
fixed offshore wind turbines as the entire unit can be assembled ashore and
FOWTs can be installed in deep water and areas with varied underwater
landscapes. There is also a much lower environmental impact from their
installation. Our expertise with the offshore floating structures and metocean
conditions means we can ensure designs for new FOWTs will be safe, reliable and
will produce power over the expected range of environmental conditions.”

The WindFloat is a floating platform that supports a
multi-megawatt wind turbine generator. It is unmanned, and carries no
significant quantity of pollutant substances. The platform is moored with a
three-line catenary mooring system. It is a three-column platform,
equipped with a closed-loop ballast system to compensate for changes in mean
wind velocity and direction.

A first WindFloat prototype has
been deployed in Portugal, 5km off the coast of Aguçadoura, since 2011. To date the system has produced and
delivered over16GWh of electricity to the grid, demonstrating the concept
feasibility without significant issues.

The second generation of WindFloat technology, addressed by
the present Approval In Principle, is intended to be part of a pilot array of
floating offshore wind turbines in the French Mediterranean sea, to be
developed by ENGIE and EIFFAGE.

Approval in Principle for Bureau
Veritas implies that the design is
feasible, achievable, and
contains no technological show-stoppers
that may prevent the design from being matured and that the design is deemed to
be suitable for use in the metocean
conditions that the unit facility will be located in. Bureau Veritas’
engineers verified design methodologies, covering hydrodynamics, structure,
stability, electricity and machinery to check that that the design is deemed to
be suitable for use in all phases of operation including in-transit to field,
installation, hook-up, commissioning, start-up, operations and offloading and
provide recommendations to fulfil through the following phases of the project.

Joao Metelo, President and CEO of
Principle Power say, “We’re very pleased to receive this endorsement of our
technology from such an esteemed body as Bureau Veritas. It’s another important
step for Principle Power as the WindFloat establishes its commercial
readiness.”

Principle Power is an innovative technology and services
provider for the offshore deep water wind energy market. PPI’s proven
technology, the WindFloat - a floating wind turbine foundation – enables a
change in paradigm for the industry in terms of reduced costs and risks for
the installation and operations of offshore wind turbines. Principle Power
sells the WindFloat as a technology solution and acts as service provider to
developers, utilities and independent power producers, being present from
the overall system design throughout fabrication, installation and
commissioning, and providing support to customers during the operation life
cycle of the platform. Principle Power's mission is to make the WindFloat the
most competitive, safe, reliable and environmentally friendly technology for
deep-water offshore wind projects while enabling global offshore wind markets
to reach their full potential. www.principlepowerinc.com

Bureau Veritas is a world leader
in laboratory testing, inspection and certification services. Created in 1828,
the Group has more than 66,000 employees in around 1,400 offices and
laboratories located all across the globe. Bureau Veritas helps its clients to
improve their performance by offering services and innovative solutions in
order to ensure that their assets, products, infrastructure and processes meet
standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environmental
protection and social responsibility. Bureau Veritas is listed on Euronext
Paris and belongs to the Next 20 index.